Robert Jensen: What White People Fear

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



YES! Magazine / By Robert Jensen

What White People Fear
Understanding the fears behind the racial politics of both conservative and liberal whites can help change a society in which wealth and well-being are still tied to race.

March 19, 2010 |


In the struggle for racial justice, it’s time to pay more attention to the fears of white people.

In a white-dominated world, that may seem counterintuitive. In the racial arena, what do we white people have to be afraid of?

There are lots of things to fear in this world, of course; race is not the only aspect of life in which people face injustice and inequality. A majority of people of all colors (including working-class and poor whites) struggles economically in a predatory corporate capitalist system, and all women, regardless of race, cope with gender discrimination and the threat of sexual violence in a male-dominated world.

But what fears could white people have as white people?

....(snip)....

For conservative white people, the dominant fear is of someday living without the privilege that comes with whiteness. Polite conservatives defend the primacy of “Western civilization.” More reactionary whites are openly racist about the threat that non-white peoples pose to “our way of life.” Both versions defend the existing distribution of wealth and power, even though many of the working-class and poor whites who endorse such views have access to precious little wealth or power. Race is used by white elites today, just as it was in the nation’s formative years, to drive a wedge between people who would otherwise come together to challenge those elites. Divide-and-conquer strategies, it seems, never go out of style.

Liberals are quick to denounce both the thinly veiled and the openly reactionary conservative racism. But what of the fears of liberals? White liberals might reject the very idea that they are afraid, citing their support for diversity and multiculturalism. But my experience suggests that while white liberals reject assertions of white supremacy, many fear the loss of white centrality. They are willing to renounce the idea that white people are superior, as long as they are allowed to live comfortably in a world where white is the norm. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/media/146040/what_white_people_fear_

[Solly Mack]

1. Good read.

Thanks.

I did k/r but..well...

[marmar]

2. I know....Almost on cue.

[vixengrl]

3. This rings true to me.

I think white consciousness is stuck at thinking of caucasian as the "default setting" and any other race as "different". Just like some people think of the US as a Christian nation because the Founders were at least nominally Christian, I think there's some that think of the country as white because they were white (Pat Buchanan springs to mind as a person who voices that kind of thinking.) A lot of the tea-baggery and birtherism seems to me to be a disconnect in not being able to recognize non-whites as also being American--they see a "white country with a black president" and they flip out. We should all just see the US with an American president.

Awareness of the disparity that still remains betweeen races in terms of social and economic justice turns what ought to be race-neutral arguments into racially-tinged ones--see Rush Limbaugh's take on HCR as "reparations". Logic would reveal that if any program would also benefit whites, it could not be considered "reparations". But his perception is tilted towards some concept of "white fairness"--if it might be marginally more beneficial to a larger percentage of African-Americans....

Carry that thought out, and it's clear that even he knows our society hasn't achieved full racial equality yet, because he at least at a gut-level suspects that more African-Americans might be in need of affordable health care. But what he is saying implies that anything that might benefit more non-white people takes away from "us"--as if all taypayers were white people with excellent health coverage. As things stand, white could be seen as having a privilege. How dare anyone try and turn it into a right? (I think of it as the "cookie theory of equality". Privileged people feel like equality means "sharing their cookie" which means less cookie for them. But really, equality means everyone gets a whole cookie. It's dumb, but dumb people need "Sesame Street"-level explanations.)

Even the language we sometimes use assumes white dominance--look at the term "reverse racism". Racism is assumed to be a "white thing". If an African-American or Latino is racist against whites--it's "reverse racism"? Wouldn't it still just be plain old racism?

(In our society, of course not--"white" is the default setting. White people don't have "race" until they are confronted with or compared to "others". That's why reverse racism is worse. Because comparisons are odorous. And really uncomfortable.)

It's also why Glenn Beck can fatuously say something like "President Obama is opposed to white culture"--WTF is "white culture"? Bad dancing and sun-block addiction? Banjos and bowling? But it's code for "American", really, isn't it? Obama was raised by his white mother and white grandparents. He's excelled in politics, which is still a white-dominated arena. But he himself isn't white, so....he's "opposite."

I think liberals are more aware of the disconnect, but it still exists at some levels.

[RedRoses323]

5. +1

:fistbump:

[Kind of Blue]

7. +2.

This should be OP.

[Tutankhamun]

9. Good points, Vixengrl.

It's interesting how many "layers" of racist thought exist. We strip away one or two, and more appear underneath. And the newer layers are often less obvious, particularly at first glance. This thread has shown me things that weren't so apparent.

[raccoon]

4. Off to Greatest with you! nt

[Karenina]

6. Kicks are more important ;-)

:kick:

[Kind of Blue]

8. Excellent read.

KnR